What You Save Is What You Lose Out In The End
by H. S. Hines
Summary: Sesshomaru is wounded and Rin tries to protect him. Is it too late? Oneshot, complete.


_Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, don't make money off 'em and don't know why they still talk to me..._

Rating: M  
Genre: Tragedy  
Feedback: Please do! My muse lives on it! 

**What You Save Is What You Lose Out In The End**

His hands were drenched in blood, his features twisted into the beginning of the transformation to his true form. Everyone ran from him in fear, knowing whoever he deemed guilty would die. Everyone, that is, except one small woman.

One of the demons laughed at her as she ran to his side and she stopped. Slowly, her head turned to face him, her eyes black with anger. He only laughed harder at the pain and rage he found in the dark eyes.

Her back straightened and she turned her body, slowly, following her gaze. Purposefully, she let one foot fall in front of the other and began stalking him. He stopped laughing, although there was still a smile plastered on his face and his eyes mocked her for a moment, before he let them slide lasciviously down her slight frame.

Rin had never been a particularly large girl. She surpassed her mother by a good three fingers by the time she reached adulthood, leaving her to stand directly at her lord's shoulder—on her toes. But right at that moment, the youkai around her stepped back, seeing her towering above them all.

She only paused for a moment on her way to the demon—to lift a sword from one of the fallen warriors. He lifted his own sword to answer her challenge, his smirk growing larger.

"So you shall die with him?" He asked, laughing coldly.

"This one cares not what happens to her, but you will not be the hand that slew Sesshomaru-sama!" Rin cried before she charged forward.

"Rin, no!" Sesshomaru yelled, blood spraying from his mouth with his words. But it was too late. He had seen this day coming since the moment he chose to keep her by his side for the rest of her life. He watched her swing the sword, so big in her tiny hands and forced himself not to close his eyes when the demon stepped forward and impaled her with his own.

His vision faded to red again as she slid back off the sword, but it vanished when he saw the look of horror on the demon's face—what was left of it. The dagger she kept in her obi for personal defense had found its way through half of his skull and as Sesshomaru watched, she swung it back, taking off his head.

He mustered every ounce of strength he had left and stood, roaring a challenge to anyone still standing to get in his way. No one took it. Discouraged by the death of their leader, the youkai ran from the battleground.

He went to his knees after a few steps; frustrated that he couldn't reach his most loyal adherent in the last minutes of his life. He pushed his fingers into the earth, letting his head fall forward, his white hair pooling on the ground beneath him.

"Rin…" he whispered, watching the crimson fall from his lips to stain his hair.

"Sesshomaru-sama," Rin whispered back, causing him to jerk his head up. She had crawled to fall a few steps away from him. He forced himself to crawl, ignoring the indignity of it to just get to her.

He reached out and pulled her body to his, falling back to hold her one last time while their blood mingled on their bodies. He closed his eyes, listening to her heart as it struggled past the mortal wound, pushing her life from her body. He willed himself to live longer than she, so that his last act could be to restore her.

"Please, Sesshomaru-sama," Rin whispered. "Do not bring me back if you will not be there when I awake," she begged. He pulled her close.

"It is my wish that you live, Rin," he said.

"And it is my wish to follow my lord, wherever he may go," she responded.

"I fear you will not follow this Sesshomaru on this journey, Rin."

"I will!" she declared vehemently. "You will not leave Rin behind this time!" Her arms wrapped as tightly around him as she had strength. "I love you, Sesshomaru-sama!"

"Such a foolish thing…" he whispered into her hair, resting his cheek against it. Wind stirred the air above them and Rin's hair blew in the harsh breeze, a tiny cherry blossom catching in it from the stream that was dancing along the current. The comforting beat of her heart stopped a moment later and Sesshomaru pulled her close one last time as he took his last breath.

_'Come, Rin, we are leaving…'_

'_Yes, Sesshomaru-sama!'_

_**The End**_


End file.
